UP Police Constable · Bite-size lessons
Figure Completion
About 7 min · Mental Aptitude / IQ / Reasoning · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 466 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Figure completion is a visual reasoning topic that tests your ability to identify missing parts of a pattern or series. In the UP Police Constable exam, you'll typically see an incomplete figure or a sequence of figures with one missing element. Your task is to select the correct option that logically completes the pattern based on shape, size, rotation, shading, or positional relationships.
Key ideas
- Pattern continuity: Every figure series follows a consistent rule that applies throughout. The missing figure must maintain this continuity without breaking the established pattern.
- Rotation patterns: Figures may rotate clockwise or anticlockwise by fixed angles (45°, 90°, 180°). The completing figure continues this rotational sequence.
- Addition/Subtraction of elements: New elements may be added progressively, or existing elements removed systematically. Count carefully to identify the increment or decrement pattern.
- Shape transformation: One shape may gradually transform into another through intermediate steps. The completing figure represents the next logical transformation stage.
- Shading/color progression: Shading patterns (empty → half-shaded → fully shaded) or color changes follow predictable sequences that the answer must continue.
Quick reference
- First step always: Establish the rule by comparing figure 1 → figure 2 → figure 3 transitions.
- Look for: Rotation, reflection, addition/subtraction, shading changes, positional shifts.
- Combination patterns: When simple rules don't work, check if two rules operate together (e.g., rotate + add element).
- Elimination first: Rule out obviously wrong answers before selecting the correct one — often leaves only one valid option.
- Practice visualization: Mentally rotate or transform figures before checking options — builds speed and accuracy.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. In a 3x3 grid, eight cells contain figures following a pattern. The cells contain alternating shaded and unshaded shapes. The sequence is: shaded circle, unshaded square, shaded triangle, unshaded circle, shaded square, unshaded triangle, shaded circle, unshaded square. What should be in the ninth (last) cell?
2. A rectangular box is shown with a pattern on its visible faces. The front face has 3 horizontal lines, the top face has 4 dots arranged in a square, and the right face has 2 vertical lines. If this box is rotated 90 degrees clockwise (when viewed from above), which face pattern will now appear on the front?
3. A complex figure is divided into 9 sections arranged in a 3x3 grid. Each section contains geometric elements that follow a mathematical progression. Row 1 has: 1 circle, 2 circles, 3 circles. Row 2 has: 1 square, 2 squares, 3 squares. Row 3 has: 1 triangle, 2 triangles, and the last cell is empty. Additionally, each row alternates the position of shapes (left, center, right alignment). The third row follows: left-aligned, center-aligned, and the ninth position should be?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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